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Tag: Lions

Week 4: Lions at Seahawks (video) So it is a Monday night, an early season game at Seattle’s CenturyLink field. Lions driving for the north end zone. And that’s when the Ghost of the Fail Mary had reared itself. Calvin Johnson — not a stranger to the quirks of the rules — caught a pass…

View image | gettyimages.com There is a well-defined process to overturning a call This past weekend, the Lions-Cowboys playoff game was marked by the crew picking up a pass interference flag against the Lions, setting off a huge uproar. Football officials have a set protocol that occurs before changing a call. How do officials approach…

Fortunately, most flagrant actions do not escape cameras The NFL most recently handed out two punishments for flagrant acts that were not flagged on the field. Ndamukong Suh was fined $70,000 (initially suspended one game but overturned on appeal, but don’t get me started on that) for stepping on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (30 second…

This week’s officiating video for the media from officiating vice president Dean Blandino covers what appears to be this season’s most difficult calls (video download). As we broke down on Sunday, the fourth-quarter punt return by the Lions was negated by a replay of a Cardinals possession at the goal line. Blandino emphasized the two…

NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino released his weekly video highlighting some calls from Week 3. Items discussed included pass interference, illegal touching and where receivers can line up if and if not on the line of scrimmage. During the Browns-Ravens game on Sunday, a missed unsportsmanlike conduct foul (which we covered Sunday on…

The latest media tape by Dean Blandino has been posted by the NFL, which we will use as the weekly training tape on unusual calls. The vice president of officiating discussed these calls: The clock remains stopped on penalties inside 2:00 of the first half and 5:00 of the second half. This was key in…

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Week 7: Bengals at Lions

Lions coach Jim Schwartz is very cautious now about launching the red challenge flag, after being burned by a since-overturned rule last season. On Sunday, he asked if he was allowed a challenge, and, according to Schwartz, he was told he had nothing that he could.

The play in question was a blocked field goal that was recovered and run back by the Bengals (video). The mantra of “all turnovers are reviewed by the replay official” creates a misleading gap. The turnover rule for replay applies to:

interception

fumble (or a muffed backward pass) recovered by opponent or going out of bounds in the end zone

muffed scrimmage kick

A blocked field goal is not muffed, because it has not cleared the line of scrimmage. Even though there is change of possession, the Lions would have to use a challenge if there is any dispute on this play.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports Schwartz believed that there was an illegal forward pass when the Bengals fumbled forward. “They had forwarded the ball,” he said. “I thought it was a forward lateral.” Schwartz said that an official told him there was nothing to challenge.

“They said that there’s no such thing as a forward fumble on a blocked kick.”

Schwartz was not told he could not challenge, but mindful of the high profile red-flag incident last year, no doubt, he hedged his bets after talking to the official. (Schwartz also thinks that it is still a 15-yard penalty for challenging a play that he is not entitled to. That rule was changed to charge the team a timeout instead.)

The league office says that there was a challengeable aspect to the play — well, kind of. The statement from the NFL provided to Football Zebras would only indicate that this was not subject to an automatic review (that Schwartz would have to initiate the challenge) and that this play was governed by replay rules of standard running plays. They did not comment on the validity of the forward fumble, the merits of a challenge, or about the coach’s conversation with the official.

Image: Dallas Cowboys photo First, our quick calls [Football Zebras] The pink penalty flags did cause some confusion with the players’ pink towels, all symbolic for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. However, a clock operator briefly stopped the clock because one of the pink towels looked like a penalty flag. I wouldn’t be surprised if this…

Referee John Parry awaits with an NFL official in the CenturyLink Field tunnel during a lightning delay in the first quarter of the 49ers-Seahawks game. Here are some of the items making news this week: Quick calls from Week 2 [Football Zebras] Parry really had no rule to evoke for a fan’s whistle causing the…